Where should you be in April 2016?

At bauma in Munich!

Following the March 2015 deadline for applications to exhibit at the next bauma, taking place from April 11 to 17, 2016, it was already clear that demand for exhibition space is again very high. The upcoming edition of the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines, Construction Vehicles and Construction Equipment will take up all the available space - a total of 605,000 square meters of space - at the Messe München exhibition center in Munich.

bauma 2016 – diverse and international
Again the event is set to be very diverse and international: More than 3,400 exhibitors from over 50 countries are expected to take part. Just how important bauma is to the international building and construction machinery sector is also reflected in the number of international country pavilions that are being organized. Nine countries in all are putting on dedicated presentations: Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Italy, Korea, Northern Ireland, and the US. The top ten countries of origin among the exhibitors are as follows (after Germany, as per current applications status): Italy, China, Turkey, the USA, UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Korea.

Klaus Dittrich, Chairman and CEO of Messe München, is very satisfied: "The response from the exhibitors and the high level of demand for space are truly amazing." But Dittrich is also very aware of just what problems this brings: "Of course we want to give as many companies as possible the chance to present at bauma. Yet because of this high level of demand, we will unfortunately not be able to meet all requests for space and participation."

bauma Innovation Award
At the upcoming bauma in 2016, the so called bauma Innovation Award will be presented for the eleventh time. The award is a joint initiative carried out under the auspices of the German Engineering Federation (VMDA), the German Construction Industry Association (HDB), the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB), the German Building Mate-rials Association (BBS) and bauma.

The awards are presented for promising developments that are future-capable, cost-efficient and offer a high practical benefit that contribute towards energy and resource-efficiency and/or humanization of the workplace. In all categories, the innovations submitted must be relevant to the construction equipment, building material and mining equipment industry or to the construction industry and the building material industry. An international jury of repre-sentatives from research, industry and the trade press nominate three innovations in each category. The presentation of the awards to the winners takes place on April 10, 2016, as part of the opening ceremony to bauma in Munich.

bauma Open Innovation
Furthermore, in time for bauma 2016 Messe München is launching a new service for the sec-tor: the “bauma Open Innovation” online platform. bauma participants and other professionals interested in the sector can use this platform to solve their innovation-related challenges, by calling upon the expertise of Messe München’s entire cross-disciplinary network of contacts.

On this platform, companies can engage in applications or technology “scouting”. For exam-ple, companies can seek out new industries or fields of application for their existing products and services, and/or find appropriate technological solutions to meet specific challenges they are facing.

The bauma Open Innovation Platform is not the first of its kind at Messe München. A similar concept has already been implemented for the trade fair ISPO. The benefits of such an inter-disciplinary “Open Innovation” method are obvious: Via the platform project organizers have virtual access to the combined expertise of over two million visitors and more than 30,000 exhibitor contacts. If a company harnesses their knowledge, wishes and requirements early on in its innovations development, then development times and costs can be lowered. In terms of application scouting in particular the interdisciplinarity of this cross-industry network can help to identify new fields of application for products and services.

bauma Charity Alliance
And there is more news… The construction and construction machinery industry has been one of the driving forces of the global economy for years. The new “bauma Charity Alliance” is intended to highlight the fact that the companies in this sector are actively engaged both in combating hunger and poverty and in promoting education and the environment in the Third World in addition to their day-to-day business. The launch will be at bauma 2016.

There is no doubt that the good fortune the industry has enjoyed in recent decades has been driven significantly by globalization. This being so, internationally orientated companies have become increasingly involved in developing and emerging countries. But many companies are interested not just in pure profit maximization and expansion but are actively involved worldwide in social projects of every description. Klaus Dittrich, Chairman and CEO of Messe München GmbH said: “Corporate societal and social commitment is no contradiction. On the contrary: long-term success requires both factors to go hand-in-hand. Many bauma exhibitors have long since taken this on board and are acting accordingly.”

Inspired by the “Pilosio Building Peace Award”, bauma has therefore set up the so-called bauma Charity Alliance to coincide with the forthcoming event. The intention is to create a strong network and presentation platform to draw attention to social commitment by compa-nies within the construction machinery industry. The network intends to promote dialog be-tween members on the implementation of social projects and to attract additional interested parties to become actively involved in the bauma Charity Alliance.

Applications are restricted to companies exhibiting at bauma 2016, who are carrying on pro-jects in the fields of education, nutrition, health, social integration or the environment and which bring about a lasting improvement in the living conditions of people in need living in, or hailing from, crisis areas, emerging or developing countries. To date Atlas Copco, AUMUND Fördertechnik, MAN, Pilosio, Terex Latin America, Wirtgen, Volvo Construction Equipment, Zeppelin Baumaschinen and ZF Friedrichshafen have notified their projects to the bauma Charity Alliance.

bauma – THE place to be in April 2016
All these facts ensure that bauma 2016 will again be an unforgettable event. This show is without a doubt the most important trade fair worldwide for the construction machinery indus-try. The product ranges on show at bauma cover the full range applicable to the construction and mining industry. Visitors and customers can find the latest products and innovations, which are presented to the market the very first time. Moreover, the bauma atmosphere is unique: bauma is huge, it is overwhelming, enormously busy and international—it is simply the biggest show on earth and always a successful business.